Abstract:
In 2021, the fast rebounding recovery of the global economy drove strong growth in crude oil consumption, while the crude oil market was in an oversupply situation throughout the year due to tight crude oil supply. International crude oil price strengthened overall and the average price was much higher than that in 2020. Looking forward to 2022, the global economy will return from a recovery rebound to a normal and orderly recovery. Crude oil demand growth will gradually slow down and be subject to significant phase fluctuations because of the repeated epidemics and other factors. Crude oil supply will be a significant increase because OPEC+ will continue their steady course of increasing production and U.S. will increase its crude oil producing constantly. It has released bearish signals that the U.S. dollar will keep relatively strong, futures markets will not bet against crude oil and gold prices will be limited rebound momentum. The stalemate in negotiations between the United States and Iran and the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine would increase the geopolitical risks in the crude oil market and affect the expectation of crude oil supply. A comprehensive analysis showed that the demand of the international crude oil market would recover while the supply uncertainty would increase, and the oil price would rise continuously. The volatility of oil price would be enhanced under the influence of unstable factors such as epidemics and geopolitics. The average price of Brent and WTI crude oil is expected to reach 83~93 USD/barrel and 78~88 USD/barrel.